Combination lifting and forward propulsion device for use on air and water vehicles



0V. 5, 135. OK QUAST v ZMWZ COMBINATION LIFTING AND FORWARD PROPULSION DEVICE FOR USE ON AIR AND WATER VEHICLES Filed NOV- 13, 1934 mm In} 9 mammmmaz INVENTOR 17F Patented Nov. 5, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OF Otto Karl Quast, Spokane, Wash.

Application November 13, 1934, Serial No. 752,845

4 Claims.

The general object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which to elevate heavy loads vertically in a gas or in a fluid medium and to propel the same therein.

Another or the main object of the present invention is to apply said apparatus to air vehicles designed to ascend and to descend vertically and also by means of which to hover at will at any desired height and given or chosen point above the ground.

A further object of the present invention is to provide air vehicles with forward propulsion that is noiseless, or near so, when compared with the present screw propeller.

A still further object of the present invention is to apply said apparatus to water vehicles in a like manner where found adaptable.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts as will be hereafter more especially described and claimed and. which are shown in the accompanying drawing, by which several embodiments of the invention are diagrammatically illustrated by way of example.

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of said combination lifting and forward propulsion apparatus operating on a vertical plan;

Fig. 2 is a view in section of Fig. 1 taken on line 2--2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a view in fractional section of Fig. 1 taken on line 2-2 thereof showing blades attached to only one side of disk plate;

Fig. 4 is a view in side elevation of'modified combination lifting and forward propulsion apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a view in section'of Fig. 4 taken on line 5-5 thereof;

Fig. 6 is a view in fractional section of Fig. 4 taken on line 6-6 thereof;

Fig. 7 is a view in section of concave-convex blades of Fig. 4 and of Fig. 5 taken on line 1-4 Fig. 5 thereof.

Referring more particularly to the drawing throughout which like reference numerals designate like parts and the elementary functionings involved, the numeral of Fig. 1 indicates a drive shaft disposed to operate on a horizontal plan, and to said drive shaft 1 is keyed a disk plate 2, to which said disk plate 2 are boltedor attached radially blades 3 on each side thereof as shown in drawing Fig. 2, or where placement of said apparatus to a craft demands, only on one side thereof as is shown in Fig. 3, and the said blades 3 and said disk plate 2 make up said combination lifting and forward propulsion apparatus gas or fluid expeller 4 which functions on a vertical plan, and said drive shaft I, disk plate 2 and said blades 3 compose as one unit the said combination lifting and forward propulsion .5 apparatus rotatable body; and a stationary semiannular pressure shield 5 is disposed surrounding the outer circumference of the upper half of the said gas or fluid expeller 4 or rotatable body and is fitted with a downward slanting extension or 10 gas or fluid guide 6 that in direction points rearward to the forward movement or travel of a craft fitted with the said combination lifting and. forward propulsion apparatus, and the said extension or gas or fluid guide 6 is provided with a gas or fluid stop plate I, disposed to be movable up and down as desired to arrest the flow of said gas or fluid backward, thereby arresting said travel forward of said craft when desiring to rise vertically, or to hover, or when desiring to land vertically; to slow down or to fully stop said forward movement of said craft, said stop plate I has to be lowered accordingly, and when in turn desiring to move forward said stop plate must be elevated; now referring to the elementary functionings involved, when said gas or fluid expeller 4 revolves, gas or fluid then rushes in on a horizontal line as shown in drawing Fig. 2 and is expelled by said blades 3 of said gas or fluid expeller 4 centrifugally from center of said rotatable body and whence it is compressed against the lower surface of said stationary semi-annular pressure shield 5 by the upper half of said gas or fluid expeller when passing through its field of rotation and at which point it exerts a pressure above that of the static atmospheric pressure on said lower surface of said stationary semi-annular pressure shield, and when said gas or fluid so compressed expands or recoils from said pressure shield 5 it will tend to impart a lifting force to'said combination lifting and forward propulsion apparatussimilar in action to that imparted vby .explosives to a rocket, propelling same to higher altitudes or a higher lever; or for a still clearer illustration of this said principle, when operating in air, we may compare it or apply to it the well-known law of wind pressures and the formulas related thereto; as for instance, giving to said gas or fluid expeller 4 of any chosen diameter a rim speed of 500 miles per hour, the velocity of the said air and pressure against the lower surface of said stationary pressure shield 5 will thus equal that of a hurricane of same velocity and pressure; or as an example, when adopting formula P=0.005 V2 applying to wind pressures and applying same to a said gas or fluid expeller 4 of approximately 5 feet in diameter and of 2 feet in width, which, when taken on a lateral or horizontal line of the center of said gas or fluid expeller 4, will provide a true lifting pressure area of 10 square feet on the lower surface of the total area of said stationary semiannular pressure shield 5 and give a lifting pressure equal to 1,250 pounds per square foot true pressure area, or 12,500 pounds to the said total true lifting pressure area of 10 square feet of said stationary semi-annular pressure shield 5 at a gas or fluid expeller speed of approximately 451 revolutions per second, or 2,700 revolutions per minute, giving an air velocity of approximately 500 miles per hour; now further, it will be understood that said pressure shield 5 disposed above the upper half of said gas or fluid expeller 4 acts somewhat as a damper retarding the flow of said gas or fluid that is expelled by the upper half of said gas or fluid expeller when passing through its field of rotation and therefore leaves less of a low pressure in the wake l 3 of said blades 3 at said upper half than it does at l3 when passing through the lower half of said field; and further, in volume as in weight, less gas or fluid enters and is exhausted by the upper than by the lower half of said gas or fluid expeller when passing through its field of rotation, resulting in a greater resistance or pressure upon the exhaust face of said blades 3 on the lower half of said gas or fluid expeller than the upper half thereof, and which in turn causes the said greater pressure on the lower half of said rotatable body acting upon said drive shaft to produce said forward propulsion force; arrows ll indicate flow of air entering said area of retardation and numeral 12 showing where said retardation ceases; further, it will be understood that the flow of air outward, created by centrifugal forces imparted, exerts on the upper half only a pressure upward against said pressure shield and none downward upon said drive shaft I, and the pressure upward on said blades 3 when passing through the last half of said area of retardation becomes neutralized by the pressure downward upon blades 3 passing through the first half of said area of. retardation, therefore it will be seen that the said lift upward is completely created by the flow of air that is forced against said lower surface of said pressure shield; as shown in Fig. 2 much of the air that is compressed against said lower surface of said pressure shield seeks to exhaust from under said pressure shield on a horizontal line outward, and to prevent this, pressure channels are provided as shown in Fig. 6 by attachment of flanges 9 on the lower surface of said pressure shield 5 to retain a more uniform pressure under said shield; also the air that is expelled by the lower half of said fluid or gas or air expeller 4 exerts itself to its greater extent as forward propulsion force, with a thrust centering upon said drive shaft I, as it follows the direction of rotation of said expeller 4 until it encounters said extension or gas or fluid guide 6 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 4 from whence it follows a path rearward; when changing the direction of rotation of said expeller 4, this will result in a thrust upon said drive shaft that will tend to back up a craft fitted with said combination lifting and forward propulsion devices; and said pressure shield 5 is further fitted with a vent and a shutter Hi to open and to close said vent shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, and operating said shutter IE! closing said vent this will add to the pressure area of said pressure shield 5 accordingly and will give more lift and when operating said shutter l0 opening said vent this will decrease or'take from said pressure receiving area of said pressure shield 5 in accordance and so become instrumental to lessen said lift and thus the operating of said shutter Ill becomes useful in ascending and descending, as it makes it unnecessary to vary the speed of said expeller 4 for said purpose; the principle and functioning of said device as outlined herein is confirmed or proven by a model combination lifting and forward propulsion apparatus of this type on hand.

In the construction of lifting and forward propulsion device Fig. 4, which is a modification of Fig. 1, a hub 8 is keyed to said drive shaft l with said blades 3 radiating from said hub 8, and which said blades 3 herein are fashioned concaveconvex, the said concave face thereof pointing or facing in direction of rotation of said gas or fluid expeller 4 herein made up of said hub 8 and said blades 3; and the said stationary semiannular pressure shield 5 is in this latter construction likewise of a concave design, the concave face thereof pointing downward; in this construction the forces imparted are intended to densify on line of greatest depth of concavity of center of said blades 3 and the center of said pressure shield 5. to give a greater amount of air following the direction of rotation in said concavity of. said pressure shield 5 to become utilized as a greater lifting and forward propulsion agent; in drawing Fig. 6, a fractional section taken on line 6-6 Fig. 4, semi-annular flanges 9 are fitted to the lower surface of said pressure shield 5 and are spaced to form high pressure channels in spaces between said flanges, a method or modification of Fig. 1 to give a still greater effectiveness and so adding to its usefulness.

Having thus described my invention, it being understood that appropriate changes may be resorted to in its construction without departing from its scope and spirit, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:--- Y I. A new and useful combination lifting and forward propulsion apparatus for use on air and water vehicles comprising a drive shaft, a disk plate attached to said drive shaft, blades attached radially to said disk plate, a semi-annular stationary pressure shield disposed above the upper half of said rotatable air expeller, a vent in said stationary semi-annular pressure shield with a shutter to open and to close said vent, a rearward pointing extension connected to said stationary semi-annular pressure shield, said air stop plate disposed and operatable up and down through said extension of said pressure shield. 2. Said new and useful combination lifting and forward propulsion apparatus for use on air and water vehicles comprising a said rotatable air expeller that is covered circumferentially on the upper half thereof by said semi-annular stationary pressure shield of said lifting apparatus, air being centrifugally expelled outward from center of said air expeller and compressed against said semi-annular stationary pressure shields lower surface by the upper half of said air expeller when passing through its field of rotation and thus creating a force giving lift upward, air being expelled by said lower half of said air expeller when passing through its field of rotation and which by reaction creates a propulsion force, a thrust forward, and backward, depending upon the direction ofsaid rotation of said expeller.

3. Said new and useful combination lifting and. forward propulsion apparatus for use in a gas and in a fluid medium creating when in operation a simultaneous dual thrust one half of which thereof exerts itself on a vertical line against the lower surface of said stationary semi-annular pressure shield and gives lift, and the other half thereof exerts itself on a horizontal line upon said drive shaft on center of said expeller and produces forward propulsion, and reversing said rotation of said expeller produces backward propulsion.

4. Device as claimed in claim 1 comprising a stationary semi-annular pressure shield fitted with semi-annular flanges to form pressure channels therein between said flanges on the lower surface of said pressure shield, straight blades radiating from said hub.

OTTO KARL QUAST. 

